Sun, Rain, Snow in Stavanger

There’s something about the sun I can never really tell; It’s the love and hate relationship I have coming from Asia and being in Europe. The absence of it makes you depress and too much of it irritates you.

The clouds here are gargantuan that you have a feeling that it is as huge as the land it covers. The thickness blocks away the richness of the rays and there isn’t a slight feeling of the warmth it is supposed to provide. The weather here changes faster than you can change your clothes as you’ll experienced sun, snow, rain and strong wind in a span of several hours in the winter.

Lakes / Vatnet

During my visit in autumn, I had the rare opportunity, considering that it’s always cloudy here, to shoot a glimpse of the sunset at Mosvatnet. The water in the lake was calm and hypnotic as it creates a mirage of its surrounding. The swan swam gracefully breaking the mirage and creates endless ripple.

Closer to city centre, there’s four lake and one of them is right in the middle of the city. The Breiavatnet albeit being a small lake, it has a picturesque view at night when the building light bounces off the lake making it look like a mirror. One of my favourite building by the lake is a hotel with tree roots grew all over its wall.

The other two lake is called Litla Stokkavatnet and Store Stokkavatnet which translate to Little and Large Stokka Lake. A gravel pathway that goes around the lake with a distance around 10 kilometres which makes it a great place for jogging.

Pulpit Rock / Preikestolen

One of the major attraction in Stavanger is the Pulpit Rock. A natural rock formation that has a steep cliff hags at 604 meter from sea level with almost flat surface around 25 by 25 meters. The place is accessible via road or ferry and you will have to hike around 6 kilometers to reach to the top. If you choose to use a tour guide, it will cost you NOK 250 inclusive of ferry and coach ride. The tour is available from April to September and closes during winter. You can still hike on your own at anytime but during winter will be dangerous because the rock gets icy and weather is unpredictable.

The city is known for oil & gas industry and they even have a museum for it. Even if you’re not in the business, a visit to museum is a must. The ones that intrigue me the most is the huge platform model from all over the world, simulation of safety procedure in a real safety boat and real life drilling console on the platform for you to try. The entrance ticket is a day pass that cost you NOK 100 for adult and NOK 50 for student.

Food / Mat

Finding food in Stavanger isn’t hard and you’ll have varieties to choose from. While its know for salmon fish, most of the restaurant here are steak house. Pretty much all the restaurant is walking distance if you stayed at the city centre. Among the restaurant I have been to are Drop-in Pizza & kebab (halal), Naree Thai Restaurant, Gådjå Etiopisk Restaurant (Ethiopian) , Peders Løkkeveien (Chinese), Alex Sushi (Japanaese) and Matmagasinet (Fusion). If you’re looking for halal meat, you can find a market near Drop-in Pizza at Hillevågsveien road.

Although some of these restaurant offers great food, nothing could match the soft luscious sweet meat of boiled shrimp and crab by the harbour with salty wind blowing on your face. These fisherman will be there in the evening and accepts credit card, yes, they are that advanced.

If you’re observant enough, you will realise that the city has a secret that assimilates well within the city walls, literally. These secret are the street arts painted all over the city by well-known artist. One of my photo in Instagram is by Martin Whatson a renowned Norwegian artist.

Stavanger is the fourth biggest city in Norway and its been recognised that the cost of living here is high due to influx of expatriates coming to work in the oil & gas industry. Despite the price, it is still a city with beautiful landscape of the sea and the fjords around it and a city worthwhile visiting.